Black fossil found on Indian Rocks Beach

[KJ411]

Hello, I am new to the forum and hoping I’m in the right column, section, to ask if anyone has seen this type of fossil and can identify it for me? My daughter and I found it on the Indian Shores beach. Any info would be helpful! Thank you!

[Darktooth]

Welcome to the forum! Could you please take a few close-ups of the ends and sides? Current pics are a little blurry. It might be a bone fragment or possibly  a fragment of a mammal tooth but need clearer pics to be sure.

[KJ411]

Yes I will upload them here!! I appreciate the help!! We are new to this world and love looking and finding interesting things! 

[KJ411]

Here are more photos of the ends.

[Fossildude19]

Please post some larger photos. 

Place the object on a flat surface, and take photos of both sides, and both ends.

 

[KJ411]

Ok will do that now! Thank you!

[KJ411]

I’ve tried to do the best ones I can, I’m on vacation and there isn’t a ruler to use for measure in this condominium. I tried to use my flash to show the textures and lines. I really hope these help! I used a bottle of essential oil to show the length as that’s all I had. Thank you for your help!

Edited December 31, 2019 by KJ411

[KJ411]

I don’t know if this helps either but here are the ends again.

Edited December 31, 2019 by KJ411

[KJ411]

12 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Please post some larger photos. 

Place the object on a flat surface, and take photos of both sides, and both ends.

 

 

[KJ411]

Ok ok just posted more!

[Scylla]

28 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Please post some larger photos. 

Place the object on a flat surface, and take photos of both sides, and both ends.

 

Thank goodness you took it out of the box first. Looks like bone, the reason the ends are so important is it might be tooth, or ivory.

[Fossildude19]

Photos are still too small.   

 

When I brighten them, and enlarge them, the details are pretty fuzzy. 

 

 

  

 

   

 

 

[KJ411]

Thanks guys, I wish I could do better but the lighting isn’t that great here and maybe I’ll have to do better ones in a week when I get home. I immediately thought it appeared to be bone. But just not sure what kind. Thanks for all the help and I’ll repost when I can take better photos in a week!

[Darktooth]

It surely looks to be some sort of fossil. It possibly could be some sort of tusk like Scylla mentioned but we really have to get better pics. I would definitely hold on to that and see what you can do when you get home. Enjoy your vacation and if you can, look some more!

[FossilNerd]

I agree with @Darktooth. Although it’s hard to tell right now exactly what you have it definitely looks like a fossil of some sort. If it was me I’d hang on to it and try the pics again when you get back home.

 

A note on taking pics that may help. I’m not sure of your situation, but It looks like you might be using a phone camera for taking pictures. A lot of us, including me, do. These do ok for taking basic shots of the kids, or the odd selfie, but are not very good for getting clear pictures of the small details on fossils that we need identified. I find that it’s hard for the camera to focus clearly on the right spot. 
 

Fortunately all is not lost! If you have a regular camera, with all its different features, it can help tremendously. It was made to specifically take pictures after all.  If not, there are things you can do that may help get those details into focus. 
 

1- Lighting is very important as has been mentioned, but I would also suggest turning the flash off if it tries to kick on. It shouldn’t if you have decently lighting set up, but I frequently find myself in the basement trying to get pics after the family has gone to bed and sometimes an odd shadow will stretch across the phone and cause the flash to come on.  It tends to put a big bright spot of reflected light right on the fossil, washing out any details. 
 

2- Dont take the picture too close or zoomed in too much initially, but don’t get too far away either. It’s hard to get the right distance, but zooming in or just holding the phone camera very close tends to make it want to focus on your fingers or the background rather than the item you are trying to take a pic of. Too far away, and when you crop the photo, the detail will be lost. I take the photo at a medium distance where it seems like all is in focus. I then edit the photo with my phone or my laptop. I crop out the background as much as I can. If the piece is relatively in focus then I digitally edit other settings as needed. Like lighting, contrast, etc. If the picture is out of focus once cropped, I toss it and try again. 

3- The last thing that helps me a lot is magnification. I think some people use one of those magnifiers that clip on to their phone for helping take pictures, but I use a lighted magnifying lamp. The lamp provides the much needed light and the magnifying lens brings the details out so that I don’t have to zoom with the phone camera. It really helps a lot! If part of the lamp ring is visible in the initial shot I just crop it out in editing.

 

These are just things that tend to help me, and even doing these you will sometimes run across pieces that you just can’t get a good picture of. Our smart phone technology is great for a daily all around tool that can do multiple jobs, but it is a poor substitute for the real thing. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of the technology world.

 

Hope this wall-o-text helps!